How I Learn To Speak Foreign Languages Without Talking To People | Polyglot Language Learning Tips

Learning to speak a language fluently is the primary motivation for many people who begin learning a language. There are many ways to get there, but one thing that is often focused on a lot is the need to talk to native speakers early and often along the way.

Personally, I have never found this to be an absolute necessity while developing those initial speaking skills required to begin having real conversations, and so I typically begin talking to people later on.

A lot of you have been asking about how and why I do this, so that's what we're talking about today!

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[salomongarcialopez]

1.- Constantly repeating things outloud (pronunciation, rythm, entonation, emotion).
2.- Manipulate those examples you repeat outloud (Ex. Change "I would like to have lunch" to "I would like to have dinner").
3.- Think outloud in the language your learning (Describe your surroundings, how did your day go).
→ Express outloud your opinion and philosophize about things you like (TV shows, politics, movies, books).
→ Write down words or expressions you don't know how to say and find out how could you say that in a natural way.


great video :D

[nosferatusbride]

I learned how to express everyday things in English by basically commenting on everything I did in a day (when I was alone) out loud to myself. Another thing that helped me was writing a diary in my target language. It helped me express my feelings and describe what happened in a day.

[konstantindohms]

and next time: How I avoid talking to people after I've learned their languages...

[g.s.]

Your closing remarks were: "…I find it so liberating. I can get a tutor. I can go find an exchange partner. But I don't necessarily need to..."
Thanks for giving us introverts and shy people "permission" to learn using our own gifts. A person doesn’t have to be a raving extrovert to become fluent! Thanks.
Many of us go through different phases in our language learning. Sometimes we are just not in the "socializing" phase. However, we can still continue learning without talking to other people. Then, when we do get a chance to speak to other people, our conversations are much deeper and more meaningful.

[arlet]

Introverts trying to learn a new language be like:

[anisas]

I’m more confident talking to myself, because no one judges 😂😂

[olbrok]

Right now I’m learning Latin so it’s not like there are that many native speakers to seek out! Thanks for the helpful video!

[JustFrenchIt]

Oui! I keep repeating this to my students. Speaking to yourself, to your dog, speaking out loud; so important so you get a smooth transition into real conversations later on. Also, answering actors in movies, encouraging characters to kiss (that might be just me...), having conversations with book, asking questions to them.

[MiyaMam]

When introverts get tired of the whole _"be social! :)"_ aspect of language learning

[hakon_brennus_wolff]

Talking to yourself is not weird. It’s actually a sign of intelligence. Thinking that talking yourself is weird is what’s weird.

[sindhujasai]

As someone who loves talking to themselves when alone, these methods give me a reassurance that I am not weird to monolgue.

[olenkachc]

I've been learning English for a long time and all I can say is that as soon as you fall in love with a language these ideas wil come naturally to you. It was awesome to see them shown in a video.

[Yamizan]

I'm not a native English speaker but I used to talk to myself in English while cooking. Going over which ingredients I use and what I do to them helped me to program parts of my brain to think in English, too. Which is a game changer in terms of fluency, because you don't have to translate things anymore you just know them.

[michaelrobinson]

Wonderful advice Robin. We are constantly bombarded with ‘experts’ telling us to start talking with people at the first opportunity. I’m finding my Spanish is improving so much by just talking to myself. What is more is that I find I’m so interesting and always totally agree with everything I say Ha, Ha, Ha. I’m just so amusing. Sadly no one else seems to think so!! Seriously though Robin, thanks so much for this video. The method that you are advocating is improving my Spanish so much more than any other method that I have tried. Stay well and happy and keep the videos coming

[sophihia]

Hii, I'm 14 yo👋
English isn't my first/native language and I could learn it by talking to myself and having curiosity about learning new words, it actually helped me a lot to start building a confidence while talking in English, and then writing and listening started to be really easy

I'm using this method to learn Japanese and I think it's going to help me as well, meanwhile japanese has a lot of things to learn (ALPHABET....), but I'm trying my best and I know that with practice and motivation I can archive my goal!
I think I prefer learning a language by my own, of course I think online courses might help you a lot, but there is anyone who knows better your weakness than yourself, so I think I can work and learn a new language without pressure when I do it by my own and studying at my time, I don't want to learn a language by obligation (btw I learnt English bcause of that, but I could enjoy the process and started to love English📚), I want to learn a language because it's fun and helps you to interact with new cultures and people! I'm learning Japanese because I find the write very beautiful and I really want to go to Japan with my family!
For me, learning new languages mean that you can express yourself in many ways! And that's the best part of learning a completely different idiom, thinking that way make me feel the passion of learning something new!
If I made some mistakes please tell me!☺️

I hope you all can improve in your target language! 💪🏃‍♀️

[HrvojePelin]

Robin, I just want to take a moment to congratulate you on your persistance with YouTube and regular publishing even though your channel is still growing. Your videos are very helpful for us, language learners. Thank you!

[gardnerdean]

Very helpful. Thank you.
*Repeat outloud w rhythm, intonation
*Manipulate phrase w variations
*Join short phrases into longer sentence
*Think outloud w emotion, opinion. (React to movie, event, story. What's my opinion? How do I feel? Tell my story.)

[RedPandas]

Hey this is not strange at all, I’ve been learning French for a little over two years now and while I’ve had the opportunity to engage in many conversations with french speakers at work ( customers not coworkers) I never stop my shower conversations, and when I’m not in the shower I pretend to be on the phone and I have full blown conversations in French with myself lol, when I go do my groceries I put on my headphones and I practice my shadowing right in the middle of the supermarket, I somehow make it seem like I’m just talking to someone on the phone, most people look at me then look away, I do all this because it’s fun and I’ve noticed that it helps me make progress quickly but I’m not afraid to engage people in French, as a matter of fact, I get excited when I come across a French speaker because all I see is a new opportunity to test myself.

[roxannecowlesrosado]

Finally some actual "how to" steps on learning a language without having to depend on finding people with whom to practice. After several failed attempts at learning a language the traditional ways, I have decided to teach myself, but as an introvert, I have struggled with the decision of when to take the plunge and arrange to meet with a native speaker to develop my speaking skills. Now I know it is possible and OK to develop the aspects of the language-grammar, pronunciation, intonation-I know will make me, not only feel more comfortable speaking to a native speaker, but will allow me to have the types of conversations we can both enjoy.

[garruksson]

I heard some people actually don't have that "inner voice". How crazy is that!